Our poor Anima weapons.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

To be fair, we basically turned our sentient Zodiac Zeta weapons into nodules for use in our anima, so it sort of lives on through the anima. Maybe we'll just do the same for the 4.0 weapon?

Speak for yourself! My Zetas are sitting in some retainer's inventory.

[ZhaneX]

Honestly, I think the Anima spirit is too detailed to not use it in some way later. I expect in the final step, we'll get it as a minion, along with the completed weapon.

Wouldn't mind this personally. Would be nice to actually have the floating wing-figure thingy following us around.

[Atoli]

Wouldn't mind this personally. Would be nice to actually have the floating wing-figure thingy following us around.

That would make for some awkward visits to Gridania..

[Cyreil]

Wouldn't mind this personally. Would be nice to actually have the floating wing-figure thingy following us around.

Hey! Hey listen!

[KitingGenbu]

This was actually shocking to some people?

[Morningstar1337]

This was actually shocking to some people?

Considering that the whole "Sentient weapon" thing was explored with a lot more detail in the Zodiac quests (where it feels more tacked on) I'd say yes.

With that said I see three possibilities with this.

• Bast Case Scenario: They give the Anima arc some closure that involves sentient weapons for all and a way to somehow separate the soul form the weapon so that we can trade in for 4.0. In that case I'd expect a Homunculus-type NPC or a minion (or 13 like the Yo-kai Watch event in reverse). Given the ability to get more than one Anima weapon I'd say either different designs for the Minions or making up to 13 homunculi vessels (one for each job) are likely.
• Second Best Case Scenario: They end the Arc, give it some closure but keep the soul in the weapon. They will also not cave in to the fans like last time. Meaning they will not allow the Anima weapons to be used as a shortcut to the new weapon, thus rendering this discussion moot.
• 2nd Worse Case Scenario: They end the Anima arc, keep the soul in the vessel and then allow it to be traded in for a new weapon, all while pointing out the ramifications of that decision. The option will still be there but be more heavily discouraged and possibly would cause some chastising if they go through with it
• Worse case Scenario: The above but with the WoL absolved of any consequences of effectively committing murder for a rather petty reason.

Customized NPCs might just be wishful thinking. Minions might work, though would they even consider that players might want to finish the weapon for more than 1 class and plan accordingly? Given the precedent, the possibility of just killing the soul to trade in for a powerful but unlikely to be sentient weapon is just as likely.

[Eul]

Anima is far more better than crafter/gatherer's Lucis. Those never get upgrade till now

[Radacci]

Also we all really know why we made this weapons: glow-stick]

fixed.
relic is always inferior to raid weps, until mini patch before ilv increase (which is usually only last a month, if you can be bothered to rush to get it quick enough to enjoy it)
it's a huge waste of time, with little benefit; unless you do it casually and only gather tomes to buy mats, from daily roulette bonuses/beast tribe missions/etc; but if you do it casually, it's already outdated by the time you get it, because they added a new primal, that you can get higher ilv weps, from, in 10min.
You know that 240 relic step ppl worked so hard on? ya now i have all ilv 255 sophia weps, except 1. and it took less time to get all of them, than 1 relic wep. hopefully soon i'll get 270 wep from A12S (making next relic step, obsolete, before it was released)

• Bast Case Scenario: They give the Anima arc some closure that involves sentient weapons for all and a way to somehow separate the soul form the weapon so that we can trade in for 4.0. In that case I'd expect a Homunculus-type NPC or a minion (or 13 like the Yo-kai Watch event in reverse). Given the ability to get more than one Anima weapon I'd say either different designs for the Minions or making up to 13 homunculi vessels (one for each job) are likely.

i like this idea, but i think it would just be that elemental we see in CS, which is same for all weps; to much time/effort/cost to make a different homunculi for each wep.
buuut, it's kind of the soul that gives power to the wep, so if you remove it, you turn the wep into a replica, basically.

[zonderbunny]

I prefer the relic, mostly because I hate ex primals and savage raiding. I have zero interest in them. So for me its not obsolete or a waste of time cause it means I don't have to do stupid ex primals or savage raiding to get a reasonably decent weapon.

[Radacci]

I prefer the relic, mostly because I hate ex primals and savage raiding. I have zero interest in them. So for me its not obsolete or a waste of time cause it means I don't have to do stupid ex primals or savage raiding to get a reasonably decent weapon.

ya you only need to farm the same content until your eyes bleed, for...? using it for expert roulettes?
the purpose of relic weps, is sort of help some people clear raids, before new raids.
if you saved your tomes/A12 token, you can soon buy a 260wep, and in next part of void ark, you'll eventually be able to upgrade it to 270. far less hassle than relic wep.